Apotheosis - the Seminal Insight of the Hero for Screenwriting

Every hero has a seminal insight - the apotheosis. Once you know what that insight will be, you can start building your story up to and beyond that point:

In Casablanca, Rick's insight is that if you love someone, you sacrifice yourself for their happiness. That sacrifice can include selling your most prized material possessions (he sells his bar), allowing your love to find happiness in another's arms (he ultimately allows Ilsa to be with Victor), physical suffering (it is likely that his ultimate actions will see him to a concentration camp), leaving dear friends (he will have to leave Sam behind) and forced exile from home and heart (he will have to leave Casablanca). He learns this insight from both Ilsa and Victor, who are prepared to do the same for each other.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne's apotheosis is that you either get busy living or you get busy dying. He reaches that insight in the scene by the prison wall with Red (Morgan Freeman), but it is preceeded by the earlier insight that he will never get out of prison (Warden Norton will never let him go). The apotheosis is preceded by the physical processes of submersion (being locked in the hole for two months; the Belly of the Whale of the Ordeal) and rebirth through death (symbolised by the death of Tommy). The apotheosis is preceded by the crossing of the First Threshold and the Ordeal in general.

In Al Pacino Scarface, Tony Montana's insight is that the rewards of the path he's chosen are not worth the spiritual price he is paying, expressed with the words (in the restaurant scene): "is this it? Is that what it's all about Manny? Eating, drinking, fucking, sucking," "no free rides in this world kid," "I lost my appetite," "is that what I worked for? With these hands? Is that what I killed for? For this?"

In Alien, Ripley's apotheosis arrives during the conversation with Ash, the revived android. He tells her that the alien cannot be destroyed and that the military want it - this horror will be unleashed on the Earth unless she destroys it and the only way to do that is to nuke the Nostromo.

In all of the above, the apotheosis leads straight into the final act. The insight gives the hero strength and focus and helps him (or her) overcome the antagonism and inner challenges.

A detailed analysis of the Apotheosis and story structure templates can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

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Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.managing-creativity.com

Sea Pines Plantation - The Pearl of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Sea Pines Plantation ? The Pearl of Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island is one of the nicest places to vacation, regardless of what time of year you decide to stay. And I must inform you that a stay in Sea Pines Plantation must be top on your list. The island is home to more than 40,000 full time residents and over 2.2 million vacationers each year. With an average temperature around 70 degrees and so many outdoor activities available, this is a vacation that will keep you active and healthy.

The PGA MCI Heritage Classic is held each year in April at the Harbour Town Golf Links located inside Sea Pines Plantation. Thousands of golf enthusiasts enjoy the weekly activities with friends and family. Former winners include Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, and this year's winner Peter Lonard. This is a great golf tournament with a lot of history and is always an enjoyable experience for all who attend.

There are three golf courses in Sea Pines Plantation. Harbour Town Golf Links is ranked the #1 course in South Carolina by Golf Magazine and is the most sought after golf course to play on Hilton Head Island. The Ocean Course was the first golf course on Hilton Head Island, rebuilt in 1995 by Mark McCumber and features the signature oceanfront 15th hole with panoramic ocean views. Last is the Sea Marsh Course, which is my favorite. With length not a factor and very wide fairways, I recommend this course if you want to feel good about your golf game when you leave the course.

The Sea Pines Racquet Club has grown into one of the premier resources for tennis players. Under the guidance of Stan Smith, Director of U.S. Olympic Men's Coach and former U.S. Open and Wimbledon Champion, everyone receives the personal attention that makes each guest feel important.

The great advantage of having a Hilton Head Island vacation is you have the liberty to stay wherever you want, there are great deals and golf packages and you can arrange for almost any type of activity on the island. Whether it is bicycle rentals, tee times, free tennis, or water activities.

Rich Neste lives in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. He is an expert writer and insider who's columns appear in numerous papers around the country. He is a Junior Executive with Performance Development Corporation. He can be contact at (843)671-4700 or email at rich@hiltonheadrentals.com
http://www.hiltonheadrentals.com

The Importance of Honoring Mothers and Fathers

With another year full of family events coming upon us, those of us that are lucky enough to have parents to honor will celebrate Mother's and Father's Day. We set aside one day a year for this, but it should be something we do everyday of the year, as commanded by God. There is a good reason for this, or else He wouldn't have commanded it!

Exodus 20:12 "Honor thy father and mother that you may enjoy a long life in the land the Lord gives you." (Amplified)

Note that this commandment comes with a promise attatched to it. A long, healthy existence requires our gratefulness to God for who we are. It's impossible to thank God for our existence unless we also thank our parents. By rejecting them, we are rejecting who we are. This kind of rejection can lead to illnesses and dissolutions, and even death, both spiritual and physical. It's just not possible to reject ourselves, our parents and claim to love God.

When the human soul remains unhealed of self rejection, that spirit becomes open to all kinds of evils. We have known these kinds of people in history as Hitler and Bin Ladin and Hussein. But the good news in found in the book of Malachi 4:6. It speaks of an 'Elijah' to come, "He will turn the hearts of fathers towards the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers..."

In order to become a disciple of Christ we must first, "Hear and Do" the words of the Master, and that includes honoring our parents. This commandment cannot be skipped over for any reason.

This requires honesty with ourselves, who we are and who and what our parents are (or were) and how we truly feel about them.

If we hold any kind of unforgiveness against them, we must truly confess wrong attitudes and ask to be forgiven. Sometimes this may require seeking counsel from a spiritual leader, but most importantly it must be handed over to God. He will work this out at His will. He doesn't intend for us to handle things like this on our own.

Eph.5:20 "Always giving thanks for all things on behalf our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father."

This simply means that we are included in the eternal life of God who heals all wounds and allows us to stop demanding perfection and satisfaction. We need to remember that we were chosen by God! This is the true kingdom message-Mk.10:29-30; Is.56:5. God has so much more in store for us if we let Him take the lead in our lives.

A good example of how pointless our lives are without God is found when Job after his affliction stood before God and realized that nothing else mattered. God revealed His sovereignty to Job and made him realize that everything else in his own life was pointless. The same goes for us today, if we just hand it all over to God, our own problems will just fall away and won't matter either in His presence.

Our lives are not something that we can stand aside and consider what it would be like to have a different one. It's just not possible to be serarated from our own lives, but instead we must find the goodness of God within the lives we do have. If we can't believe that He has done well by us, then finding peace will be impossible and we will never experience the security that He has planned for us.

Without God's goodness and the fellowhip of Jesus in who we are, They cannot become the foundation for an abundant and obedient life that God desires for all His childrent to have. He only desires to dwell within each and every one of us in order to make our lives glorious in every aspect. Realizing this is being in the Light and knowing the whole plan God has for us.

Jesus expains this relationship in further detail in the book of John chapter 14. It's the Father's wish that we are all one in eachother. If we come to Christ, we can then come to the Father. It's a beautiful reltaionship.

Many people who are unbelievers feel that this just won't do justice to the bitter facts of life. We say ther are exceptions to this ideal way of thinking. There are those who have suffered sexual abuse, dreaded diseases, birth defects, wars, terrible natural and manmade disasters, and many other terrible, unfair things, too many to mention. The truth is that every person carries his or her own burden that seems unfair. But, we can't focus on these things as the primaray part of who we are. Instead, if at all possible and with true faith in God, it can be done, we only have to choose this focus on God for ourselves. When we do, His world and who we are in it will then reveal a glorious destiny of our own.

It's a wonderful thing when our gratitude focuses toward redemption and on the future that God has given us, no matter what may come our way. This will then result in us being able to receive and welcome our lives as it's been and will be.

The important thing here to remember is that the heart of our beings lies within our families and our parents. It's simply impossible to be thankful for who we are without being thankful to our parents.

By telling your parents you love them, you are telling God that you love the life He gave you. Remember, He chose you! Tag you're it!!!

Vivian Gordon a follower of Jesus Christ. She had dedicated her life to following His will by writing inspirational articles inspired by the Holy Spirit in hopes of reaching broken and lost souls who need to hear the Word of God for their lives. It's all about confession, redemption and salvation. Glory belongs to the Lord!

The Force That Drives Buying Decisions

What do people buy?

They don't buy your wonderful presentation.

People buy solutions and visions.

How do you find out what buyer will think that is?

Ask.

Ask questions.

Spend most of your time asking questions of your prospects, and you will have the opportunity to find out if there is a solution or vision that they want to buy.

When I say solutions or visions, here's what I mean. People buy solutions to problems or deep felt pains that they have or fear happening. People also buy visions that represent the means of attaining their desires.

Of the two, most people will have a stronger motivation to solve or avoid a problem than they will to do something to attain a desire. Don't believe me? Just look at how many people claim to dislike or even hate their jobs. Anyone *can* get a new job or start a new career. Most people never do though. Why? Because the fear of going into the unknown or losing their secure paycheck is more painful than enduring whatever pain or frustration they might have in the job they claim to hate or dislike.

Let's say that If you wanted to sell someone on changing careers. You would need to first deal with whatever they feared in the process of changing careers. Only after successfully addressing this you could ever complete this sale and motivate them with the exciting possibilities that the new career offered.

A business might have a need for a particular product or service that offer. You look at this business, and you just know that they need it. It would make real difference to the way they do business, how they treat their customers, how much revenue they take in, or how efficient they are.

None of this matters.

Nope. That is your perception. The only thing that really matters is whether or not the people who run this business perceive that something needs to be changed. Businesses buy something when they recognize that a change needs to occur to fix or avoid a problem, or to realize a vision for the future.

Now, some prospects are walking pain statements. They'll hand you their problem right up on a silver platter and ask you if you can solve it. These tend to be the easy sales. We love these.

Unfortunately for us, there aren't enough sales like this in most industries to make our sales goals off of. Not all people or businesses perceive that they need to change. Not all buyers are aware of the problems, pitfalls, or opportunities that are out there. This is especially true when you sell an innovative or new product, and people are not even aware that what you offer exists.

So herein lies the challenge and the opportunity for us as salespeople (and the reason why businesses have salespeople instead of a stack of order forms in their corporate lobbies). We are paid a lot of money to find the prospects that are unaware of the problems and possibilities, and to show them the consequences that await them.

People are motivated by consequences. This is one of most important things you can learn in persuasion. Consequences are what people fear or want most. This is the root motivation for what people do, or don't do - what they buy or don't buy.

Earlier I said that by asking questions of your prospects you will have the opportunity to find out if there is a solution or vision that they want to buy. I used the word opportunity specifically, because just asking questions is not enough.

You must ask the right questions at the right time. Use questions impotently, and not only will you not learn what motivates your prospect, you'll likely hear "I want to think about it, call in me in a couple of weeks". This in most cases is just the same as losing the sale.

? 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

E-Mail Media Releases

E-mail is becoming the preferred way to receive media releases. Although it can sometimes be harder to get valid e-mail addresses for media contacts, e-mail releases are more likely to be read than faxes and faster than snail mail.

Collect e-mail addresses for your preferred media contacts from the web sites for publications and broadcast outlets. For example, many newspapers list e-mail addresses of their editors, columnists and reporters at their web sites. They may also print e-mail addresses in each section of the newspaper.

Can't find the e-mail address for the person you want to reach? Often, you can guess what the address is if you know the e-mail address convention for that publication. For example, if others there have addresses that are firstname.lastname@magazine.com, you can try contacting columnist John Jones at john.jones@magazine.com.

Keep the release short. There shouldn't be more than a couple of screens worth of text.

Use text, not special formatting such as HTML. What you thought was a beautifully formatted message with special fonts and graphics will show up on some systems as a bunch of garbage code. Also, with all the viruses, worms and trojans out there, some people will not open HTML e-mail.

NEVER send an attachment. Some systems will automatically strip them out, but even if they reach the addressee, many will not open an attachment because of the possibility of viruses as well as the inconvenience.

Your subject line is your headline. Use it wisely. Don't leave it blank, or put a generic subject such as "Hi!" or "Something for you." Most will delete it believing it to be spam or just not interesting. Don't try to be cute with a subject line such as "Guess who?" or "I dare you to open this," for the same reasons.

Make the FROM field meaningful. Put your name, company name or other identifier there. If all that shows up is that the e-mail is from a meaningless series of letters and numbers, it looks unprofessional or like spam.

Don't use the CC: field to send the e-mail release to dozens or hundreds of media. All of the addresses will show up on each person's e-mail, meaning they will have to scroll through pages of header to reach your message-and they won't. Your e-mail will be deleted unread. It's annoying and unprofessional to send e-mails this way.

E-mail releases can be an effective, free way to get publicity. Use them wisely.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. Learn more about how you can attract customers and make yourself famous with free publicity at http://www.IdeaLady.com/pr.htm.

Creating Great Birthday Party Videos

My son recently had his third birthday party and it was mayhem. There were kids all over the place doing all sorts of funny things with parents following them around trying to prevent the next catastrophe. Believe it or not, this environment makes for a fantastic video. The key is to plan a little before heading into the chaos.

Sequence of Activities
First think in general terms about the sequence of events that go into a party. At first, all you may envision are children running around and the best strategy is to sit back, and tape events as they occur from a safe, comfortable distance. After all, how can you possibly control how your video will turn out with the certain anarchy that will ensue? Well, the answer is to pick your spots. The 'spots' I'm talking about are those more creative moments you don't want to miss.

Preparty

• The birthday wish list
• Sending invitations
• Buying the cake
• Decorating
• Creating goodie bags

Party Time

• Friends arrive with presents
• Everyone gets comfortable
• Entertainment arrives
• Lots of laughing, singing, dancing, kazooing (is that a word?)
• Let the games begin
• The Birthday Procession
• Now the real mess: cake and ice cream
• Finally, the presents
• The goodie bags and farewell

Perspective
To really make a great birthday video, be creative and think about the world through a child's eyes for a moment. Kids get excited for a reason. They have all their friends over, most rules go out the door, and there are games, cake, ice cream, and presents; what else could make a child more excited? On top of this, your child is right in the middle of it all, loosing their breath trying to keep track of who's doing what, where, how and why. The goal is to capture that excitement, and it doesn't mean standing in the corner, towering 6 feet over the scene panning back and forth with a wide angle lens filming. You're going to have to do some extreme filming for a few minutes and get down in the action.

Walk Through
Now let's get creative. What I would like to do is walk through the party and give you some examples of creative camera work that will make your videos more exciting to film, edit and share. I don't expect you to use all of these ideas in one video, but using just a few will improve your storytelling dramatically.

Preparty taping
Taping all the preparty items will probably only take less than 10 minutes in total but this video will come in handy when editing. These moments are difficult to plan, so an idea is to keep your video camera fully charged and in an easy to reach spot. This way when the discussion of what they want for their birthday comes up, you'll be able to capture the moment quickly.

The preparty video you tape will be good flashback material. For example, as you tape your child opening their favorite present, you may want to include a brief flashback to when they initially told you what they wanted and how bad they wanted it. Flashbacks can also be used to show before and after shots of the cake or your home before and after the destruction.

The Party
One of the best techniques to make your final video more interesting is to create a few scenes where the viewer experiences the party from the child's perspective. These are commonly called point of view shots. This involves getting down to their level, literally.

Friends arrive with presents
This is a great opportunity for capturing some interesting conversations between the children as they arrive. Try to get your son or daughter to greet the first few arrivals. Kneel down and tape over their shoulder so that the person they are speaking to takes up maybe 2/3 of the frame. For the effect, it should be filmed from the height of the kids. For a more dramatic, meeting of the minds, effect, move the camera around so that it is looking slightly up at the two as they talk. Or, start over the shoulder of one of the subjects and move around to the shoulder of the other.

Note: An important comment is in order here. If you are filming indoors during the day, make sure that you are positioned between your subject and the outside light source (ie. your windows). The primary reasons for this are 1) natural light is an excellent light source and 2) if you shoot a darkened subject against a bright background, the auto-exposure on your camera will compensate for the bright background and darken your subject further. You will essentially end up with a very dark subject (underexposed) with little color and a very bright, white background. Actually, this is the opposite effect of taking a night, flash photo outdoors of your friends against a beautiful city skyline. Your friends end up too bright (overexposed) and the background is entirely black.

Everyone gets comfortable
If your party is at a playground with a slide and swing set, then take the camera down the slide or on the swing set. Climb on the jungle gym and hold your camera knee high and chase the kids. You can obviously do the same at indoor play areas or at home as the children play with the toys. As you edit your video, you can work in these point of view clips.

Entertainment Arrives
A typical setup for an Entertainment scene is where the children are gathered together and watch a performance. A good shot is to sit behind the children and peer through the crowd at the performer. Then shoot a few close ups of the children's faces from behind the performer. If the kids stand up and dance or play a game, stand with them, hold the camera knee high and mingle. You can edit these point of view clips to create a nice final scene.

Let the Games Begin
Playing games is one of the highlights of being a kid. Try to immerse your viewer in the moment and capture the excitement. One of my son's friends had a pi?ata at their birthday party. You can create a great scene by filming another point of view shot before the party begins. Hold the camera and stick together so the stick is visible in the shot. Wave the stick around and pretend to hit the pi?ata. Once you are at the party, and the children have gathered for the fun, stand in the center with your camera knee high and turn around a few times. Now, step back and tape the actual blindfolding and stick waving from a distance. Your final edited clip will include your child being blindfolded, spun around (from their point of view), the stick trying to locate the pi?ata (from its point of view) and finally the candy and toys that result from a direct hit.

The Birthday Procession
Many different birthday traditions exist in the world but the one most followed by Americans is the birthday cake with candles, a happy birthday song, a wish and blowing out the candles. Birthdays were originally reserved for royalty, hence the crowns kids often wear at parties. Taping this scene could have a royal feeling to it as you tape a close up of the lighting of the candles, the act of proceeding to the table with the cake, the singing, the wish and finally the attempt to blow them all out. Try and create the feeling of a grand gathering, using a wide angle to capture all the family and friends who attended. This makes a scene fit for a King or Queen.

Now the Real Mess: Cake and Ice Cream
This is a great opportunity to capture some video of some cute messy faces. Tape a few face close-ups and some wide angle shots of the scene. When you edit the video, try using the slow motion function as a scoop of ice cream falls off a cone or as the cake doesn't quite make it into a mouth. Or, try increasing the speed of the scene while editing and show the kids devouring their whole plate of cake and ice cream in under 10 seconds. Using various speeds can make these scenes really funny.

Finally, the Presents
Opening the presents is as much fun for parents as it is for their children. Bring the camera level with your child's eyes and catch their reaction as they open their gifts. If you're really ambitious, you can cut a hole in the bottom of a box, push the camera lens against the hole and film as they open the box. Place something silly in the box so when they open it, you capture their smile. In addition, the video you taped prior to the party of your son or daughter explaining what they wanted for their birthday can be used here as a flashback. It's magical to see a child's wishes come true.

The Goodie Bags and Farewell
The goodie bags and the mess are all that is left. Try to put a fun item in the goodie bags that the kids can wear. A few ideas include a funny clown nose, silly glasses, candy lips, or tiaras. You can gather the kids together at the end for a funny shot of their new identities. Have them wave goodbye to the camera for the farewell scene.

Parting Words
I hope that you have a better understanding of how to create a more exciting birthday video using various camera angles and editing techniques. Remember that the goal is to fit just a few of these ideas into your finished video. You can accomplish your goal with just a little planning and by picking your spots at the party. With a little thought, you can adapt these ideas to any party situation. Good luck and have fun!

Colton Wright is a writer for http://www.digz-it.com, a video and photo sharing website.

Copyright 2005 by Colton Wright, Digz-it.com

To Buy Pain Meds Online, a Dangerous Move

Many people want to buy pain meds online simply because it is cheaper for them. Recently, thousands of online pharmacies have popped up offering for people to buy pain meds online without a prescription. They offer to sell the medication at cost, or at wholesale prices. This sounds all and good at first, but is it really safe to buy pain meds online?

The answer is more than likely "no." This is especially true if you weren't required to provide a prescription to buy pain meds online. The safety of this purchase is not easy to determine. First off, when you buy pain meds online, how can you be sure that the drug you get it the exact one you asked for, or even if it is the correct potency? The risk for an overdose can be very high. Also these online pharmacies will let anyone buy pain meds online. They do not ask for a prescription or your medical history. They could sell it to a child, a teenager, or a person with a drug addiction. All of this will end in bad results. The FDA also states that it is illegal to purchase or distribute any form of prescription medication without having a prescription or being licensed to do so. So in essence, you are doing something illegal.

There are a few safe places to buy pain meds online. These are the online pharmacies that require a prescription and your medical and allergy history. These websites should have a verifiable street address and a toll free number with live operator assistance. They should also be a licensed pharmacy and have a way for you to check and verify their license. If the online pharmacy is lacking in any of these fields, then you should never purchase from them.

You should never buy pain meds online without a prescription. It has been proven dangerous for many reasons. The safest route is to go to your doctor and get a prescription first. If you can't do that, then purchase an over the counter pain medication. Your life and safety is much too important to risk anything else.

Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.medsonlinecenter.info a blog focusing on the PetMeds, resources and articles. This site provides detailed information on Medicine. For more info on Pain Medicine visit: PetMeds